This invention relates to fastening device that allows a cable cincture to be quickly and securely fastened about a plurality of logs or like bundle, and further to be readily releasable by an operator, against the tension exerted on the cable by the bundle.
When timber is harvested in an area which requires transportation to a processing facility, the logs are generally bundled to increase ease of handling and to increase safety. Such bundling of logs generally incorporates a cable to surround the bundle and a fastener which is generally secured to a first end of the cable and is adapted to receive and secure therein, against tension exerted on the cable by the bundled logs, an intermediate portion of the cable remote from the first end.
Such cable cinctures, used in the sense of being a girdle or belt, are in common usage in logging. However, to both the design of the cable fastening device has in the past generally proven to be unsatisfactory due to both the rough handling and abrasion of the device experienced under normal working conditions and to the likelihood of any moving parts becoming clogged with dirt and wood debris.
In the prior art the applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,402 to Faessler wherein a clam-shell fastening device is secured to a loop at one end of a cable. Buttons or metal lugs secured to the cable cincture, remote from the point of attachment of the fastening device, may be selectively positioned within the clam-shell fastener. The fastening device is maintained in a closed position surrounding a button on the cable by a split pin which is slipped through small apertures which must be aligned in each portion of the clam-shell fastener.
What is neither taught nor suggested, and which are objects of the present invention to provide, are; firstly, a fastening device designed to allow attachment of the cable cincture in a manner which may minimize wear on the cable at the point of attachment; secondly, a fastening device of unitary construction which permits a metal lug secured to the cable cincture, remote from the point of attachment of the fastening device, to be rapidly and simply secured therein. The fastening device of the present invention enables simple and rapid release of the cable cincture. Further, the cable cincture fastening device of the present invention is elongate and generally aligns with the cincture to minimize interference between the fastener and the logs or other material being bundled during placement and removal of the cincture.
The cable cincture fastener of the present invention is an elongated block of aluminum alloy or similar wear resistant material, which is generally square in cross-section, preferably a rectangular parallelepiped. The fastener has an internal void, cavity or channel accessible through an elongate opening or slot formed in one elongated side of the block, and end openings, for example notches or bores, formed in longitudinal axial alignment through the ends of the block. Opposed inwardly facing flanges formed within the cavity adjacent to the slot create a sinuous or square-form sinusoidal access path to the cavity.
The fastener is attached to a first end of the cable cincture by passing an end of the cable outwardly from the cavity through a first end opening and snugging a lug or stop fixed to the opposite cable end against the internal face of the end wall. In this aspect the fastener is disposed in general axial alignment with the cable thereby allowing easy manipulation around logs or the like to be bundled when attaching or removing the cincture. The first end opening may be a bore hole if the fastener is to remain attached to the cable.
The cable of the cincture may have a plurality of lugs securely mounted to it along it""s free end remote from the fastener when the fastener is mounted on the cable as above described. Securing the cincture around a bundle is accomplished by selecting a lug at a distance along the cable sufficient to snug the bundle once fastened, and placing the lug within the cavity by laying the opposite or second end of the cable into the corresponding second end opening (which is in the form of a notch), ensuring that the second end of the cable is seated within the notch so as to snug the lug against the notch opening within the cavity.
The tail of the free end of the cable, that is, the portion of the cable now extending inwardly into the cavity past the remote lug snugged against the notch opening, is inserted and woven along the sinuous access path on the block so that the tail, once straightened, is beneath the flanges and within the cavity. Installing the tail beneath the inwardly facing flanges further secures the remote lug in position against the notch opening. The extremity of the cable tail may extend from the cavity, free from the fastener.
During removal of the cincture, the ease of which forms one of the advantages of the present invention, the free end, i.e. tail, of the cable is gripped and tugged manually generally laterally of the longitudinal axis of the block to free it from confinement beneath the inwardly projecting flanges. Once freed from the flanges, the cable is then tugged generally outwardly from the cavity to thereby manually release the cincture from around the bundle without the need for tools to effect the release.
In summary, the cable fastening device of the present invention is for use in cooperation with a cable having a first lug mounted on a first end and a second lug mounted towards an opposite second end. The fastening device is for releasably fastening the first and second ends of the cable together with the cable snugly around a bundle of elongate objects such as logs. The fastening device includes a rigid housing having an elongate channel therein. The channel extends from a first end wall of the housing to a second and opposite end wall of the housing. A pair of side walls extends along the channel so as to define a channel opening and a channel cavity between the pair of side walls and the first and second end walls.
A first cantilevered member extends into the cavity from a first side wall of the pair of side walls. A second cantilevered member extends into the cavity from a second side wall of the pair of side walls. The first and second cantilevered members are oppositely disposed offset relative to each other along the channel. The first and second end walls of the housing each having cable receiving openings for receiving the cable therethrough.
In one embodiment of the present invention the first and second cantilevered members extend into the channel so as to intersect a plane which contains a longitudinal axis of symmetry of the channel cavity and which generally bisects the channel opening along its length. The first and second cantilevered members define an access path between the cantilevered members and the pair of side walls of sufficient width to pass the cable between the cantilevered members and the pair of side walls into the cavity.
The cantilevered members may advantageously be spaced from a floor of the channel so that, once the cable has been passed through the access path, the cable may straighten or be straightened along the channel adjacent the floor, that is, between the floor and the cantilevered members.
In a preferred embodiment, the first and second end walls are spaced from the first and second cantilevered members respectively so as to allow passage of one of the lugs on the cable between the first end wall and the first cantilevered member, and so as to allow passage of another of the lugs on the cable, for example at the other end of the cable, between the second end wall and the second cantilevered member respectively.
The cable receiving opening in the first end wall may be, for example, a hole through the first end wall for receiving the cable snugly journalled therethrough so as to mate the first lug of the cable against the first end wall and disposed in the cavity, or maybe for example a slot. The cable receiving opening in the second end wall may be a slot sized to snugly receive the cable therein so as to dispose the second lug in the cavity mated against the second end wall.
The cantilevered members may be flanges lying generally in a plane contained the channel opening. The cantilevered members may advantageously extend so as to overlap the cable when the cable is lying in the channel cavity.
The access path may be generally sinusoidal. The cantilevered members and the pair of sidewalls may define therebetween an access path sized for sliding weaving fitment of the cable snugly through the access path so as to dispose the cable beneath the cantilevered members and in the cavity.
The external surfaces of the end walls may be chamfered around their perimeter and the housing may be rectangular.